Organisational culture and commitment: a study of an Indian software organisation

Abstract

Although it has been suggested that both organisational culture and organisational commitment are important topics of contemporary organisational significance, there has been little attempt to explore the dynamics of these two concepts by scholars. The study reported in this paper adopts a three perspective framework (Martin 1992, 2002) to explore the impact of organisational culture on organisational commitment in a context (software sector in India) that is renowned to be dynamic and people-centred. The study adopts ethnographic methods including in-depth interviews, observation and document analysis. The findings lead to the development of a range of insights into the integrated, differentiated and fragmented nature of organisational culture and the impact of these on the perception of linkages with organisational commitment. The paper argues that adopting all three perspectives of culture in the study of culture-commitment linkages in a single organisation reveals significant insights into the perceived associations, while at the same time highlighting the problematic nature of such relationships. The paper concludes with a series of implications for theory and practice.

Keywords:

• Indian software sector
• information technology professionals
• organisational commitment
• organisational culture
• organisational subcultures
• three perspective framework